The Cover Hinges on the Hinge

The difference is the pressure-fit hinge. The hinge is nice because you can adjust your iPad to any angle you want, instead of the fixed position that most mag-lock keyboards offer. Are there times you don’t want the keyboard attached? Simply slide your iPad out of the pressure-fit hinge. It’s that easy. There’s a rubber lining in the hinge to prevent the glass from being scratched during insert and removal. Folding the keyboard to a closed position, locks the iPad, however, if you open the case within a minute it automatically unlocks the iPad, so just be aware of that.

Folded closed position.

This Keyboard Lights Up…In Many Ways

The backlit keyboard works very nicely and comes with 3 built-in brightness modes. Not crazy about white as a backlit color? Hold down the backlit key (lightbulb) and press the right cursor key to toggle through the different colors, which are red, blue, green and purple.

Other special function keys that exist on the keyboard are a home key, Lock/Unlock key, Mic button to activate Siri, Undo button, Redo button, on-screen keyboard button, copy, paste, previous track button, play/pause, next track button, mute, volume controls and a world symbol to toggle between international keyboards (when activated in your iPad’s settings).

Houston, We Have Problem

Now for the, “Houston, we have a problem,” part. For myself, and from other posts I’ve seen on the Internet, there is a problem with the keyboard dropping connection with the iPad. I have contacted Zagg Technical Support about the issue and with no hassle; they replaced my keyboard. Trouble is, the replacement keyboard has the same problem. There is no telling when the problem is going to occur, either. There is no LED light to say the keyboard is awake. All you can do is check is to make sure the power button, located on the right side, is in the on position. I don’t believe the problem lies with my iPad because I have no problem with other Bluetooth devices that I own. To fix the problem, I simply go into Settings, Bluetooth, toggle Bluetooth Off, toggle Bluetooth On, and then press the pair button on the Zagg keyboard and then the ZaggKeys Cover under Devices. Following these steps, the keyboard re-connects every time for me on the first try.

Another weakness is the battery indicator. It’s not a good one. There’s a button you can push to report the battery life, but there’s no actual real indication of battery life. Allow me to explain. Push the battery button and if it flashes green, then you have 50% or more of battery life. If it flashes yellow, then you have 25% – 49% battery life and if it flashes red, then you have 25% or less remaining. Thanks for the precision (yes, that’s sarcasm).

Now, this is just nitpicking, but the nice thing about mag-lock keyboards is they self-align. The hinge is not a self-align technology, so you will have to slide it into the hinge to center it with the keyboard (if that kind of thing bothers you).

Final Thoughts

Having said all that, I do have a love/hate relationship with my Zagg. I love how it looks and how the hinge operates and with practice you get pretty good at centering the iPad to you keyboard when you re-connect them. The dropping of connection does get old really fast, yet the reason I still use it is because I had the Logitech keyboard before this and the mag-lock design didn’t hold very well for me at times or especially if you dropped it. The Zagg never comes undone and if you drop it, the keyboard stays closed all the way to the ground, protecting my iPad better than my Logitech did. I know, in a perfect world, don’t drop it. Well, the world isn’t perfect and neither am I and neither is the Zagg, but it’s close enough to perfect for me and that’s why I keep using it. The Zaggkeys Backlit Keyboard Cover for the iPad Air is available for $99.99.